Shadow of Death (21 page)

Natalie was on her way back home when Diane called. She had evaded her mother-in-law's calls over the weekend; she didn't feel like talking. Like a cold sore, Diane was determined to make her presence known. “Hey, Di.” She tried her best to sound “normal.”

“Hey! I've been tryin' to get in touch with y'all all weekend. How's everything?”

“Okay.”

“Okay?
You don't sound like you did last week when you were doin' all that talk about God bein' so good. Did sumthin' else happen?”

“I only answered the phone so I didn't seem rude. I'm not in the mood to talk.” Heck, she didn't even want to
think
about Troy, let alone discuss him. “Call your son and let him fill you in.”

“Girl, you know Troy ain't gon' tell me nothin'. I ain't hangin' up this phone 'til you do.”

It won't stop me from hanging up on you!
Natalie thought as she refrained from saying a single word.

“Natalie,
please
… I'm not askin' to be nosey or all up in y'all's business for the heck of it. I'm concerned about y'all. I know you love each other and I love the both of you. I talk to you more than I do either of my children, and my daughter lives in town. I'm sorry if I'm gettin' on your nerves, I—” Diane tried to mask it by coughing, but Natalie still heard the crack in her voice. “I don't want to see y'all's marriage fall apart 'cuz of this.”

Natalie had no doubts about Diane's sincerity, but she wished the woman could leave well enough alone. “Di, I'm not trying to be mean. It's hard. I've never been in this situation and I have mixed emotions about everything.” Reluctantly, Natalie relented to Diane's wishes and shared the most recent events, including her own secretive actions. “He wants to have an attitude with me because I took money from
my
severance out of the bank, but he should be thankful. Had I left it in there, Cheryl would have touched that, too, and we'd be flat broke.”

“Natalie, I understand you're upset but—”

“I don't want to hear any buts,” she said defensively. “You wanted to know what's going on. I've told you. I'm tired of people telling me how I need to feel. I'm not superwoman! I have right to be upset. Let me feel what I feel and deal with it on my own.”

“I'm not askin' you to be superwoman. All I'm saying is—”

“Di, I have to go!” Natalie said in a panic as she pulled into her driveway. The cops were standing at her front door talking to Troy. “What's going on now?”

“I have to go back to the station,” Troy answered without making eye contact with her.

“Why?
What happened?”

“They found Cheryl… she's dead.”

N
atalie tried not to fret as Troy followed the officers to the station for questioning. Troy assured her that he wasn't under arrest and would be home before she knew it. His lawyer, some Murphy guy, was meeting him there. Thankfully, Troy had fed the twins and they were content for the moment in their playpen. Natalie hated keeping them locked up in that thing like caged birds. Normally, she didn't use it unless absolutely necessary when she was cooking, cleaning, or as a timeout if they were out of control. They sometimes took naps in it as well. However, Natalie allowed the playpen and Nick Jr. to do her mommy work for a while. She was unable to tend to their needs and work through her ever-fluctuating emotions about Cheryl at the same time.

“She's dead.”
Troy's statement echoed in her mind. Considering that he was being questioned, it was pretty evident to Natalie that Cheryl's death hadn't been a result of natural causes. Natalie was concerned about the impact that an implication would have on him. Regarding Cheryl being dead, Natalie ashamedly felt relieved that the woman would be out of their lives for good now.

Lord, forgive me,
she thought as she sent Aneetra a text updating her on the morning's events and requesting prayer. She also called Diane back who, since Natalie hung up on her, had called both the home phone and Natalie's cell like a bill collector. When she informed her mother-in-law of what had happened, Diane's solution was to see if there was some way one of their family members could help. “He already has an attorney. Plus, I don't think Troy wants everyone knowing what's going on.”

“I ain't said nothin' to nobody except for his dad, and you know Reed ain't about to call and get in y'all's business. I just wish there was somethin' I could do.”

“You can pray,” Natalie suggested.

“I'm tryin', baby. I'm tryin' harder than ever before. I can only hope the Lord ain't turned a deaf ear to me 'cuz I ain't been no saint.”

“He hasn't.” Natalie was touched by her mother-in-law's sincerity. She believed it would only be a matter of time before Diane finally made a commitment to Christ. All this God and prayer talk was evidence that maybe Diane was starting to come around. It was much better than the superstition theories Natalie had been holding her breath for. Her mother-in-law was the queen bee when it came to believing in that stuff and it drove Natalie crazy.
“… [L]ast time I checked, you believed in the grace given to us by Jesus,
not karma.”
Aneetra's words from last week came back to haunt her. Perhaps Natalie's own beliefs had been temporarily misdirected. Before she and Diane hung up, Di made Natalie promise to call her the minute she heard from Troy. “Will do.” After getting off the phone with Diane, Natalie decided to follow her own advice and pray. She did believe in grace and by it, she and Troy would get through this storm in their marriage. Instead of stressing over this manic Monday morning, she hoped that having a little talk with Jesus was going to make everything all right.

•  •  •

Troy had on a pair of gray sweats that had a large Velcro pocket on the right pants side, near his knee. That's where he'd kept the diary since last night until this morning when he put it in the center console of his truck on his way to the station. Troy was nervous with the thing out of his sight. He tried not to think about it as he sat across from Nugent once again, only this time Lawrence Murphy was by his side.

“For the record, I would like to ask if my client is under arrest.”

“No.”

“Okay. Then it's our understanding that Detective Evans is here of his own free will as a courtesy to the department on which he serves. If, at any time, I feel your questions are out of line, he will be instructed not to answer and this interrogation will cease.”

Nugent ignored Lawrence and went straight in for Troy after reading him his rights. “Why don't you start by telling me where you were yesterday?”

“At home with my wife.”

“All day?”

“Pretty much.”

“I don't know what ‘pretty much' means? It's a yes-or-no question.”

Troy refused to answer definitively because he had left the house yesterday…twice. The first time had been to take Corrine the money that she'd put on her credit card to make the reservations on Friday and also to hook up with RJ to pay him back for dinner Friday evening. The second time he'd left had been late Sunday night. After he was sure Natalie had gone to sleep, Troy sneaked out of the house and went to Cheryl's looking for evidence.

“I don't think it's a good idea,” RJ had said to him when Troy told him
about the plan earlier that afternoon.

“You're probably right. I keep thinking that there has to be some clues
in her house regarding her whereabouts. She can't pull this disappearing
act forever. She'll have to come out of hiding soon, and maybe I can find something that will draw her out. She nearly destroyed my marriage, framed me for abducting her, and now she's wiped our bank accounts clean…it has to stop!”

“I understand your frustration, but if one of her neighbors catches you, it's a wrap. Breaking and entering won't be a good look, man.”

“I know…I don't know what else to do.” Troy had temporarily abandoned the idea of going to Cheryl's after his talk with RJ. The more he stewed in the basement while Natalie paraded around the house like he was nonexistent, the angrier he became. Friday night would have been perfect if it weren't for Cheryl. She had gone too far and he would see to it that she went no further.

“I think I'm goN 2do it,” he said to RJ in a text.

“Do what? Go over Cheryl's??? NOT A GOOD IDEA! Does your wife know?”

Troy never addressed the question. Natalie didn't know and he wasn't sure he would tell her. Her emotions were too unstable at the moment.
Troy wanted answers and when he uncovered them, she'd be the first that
he informed. Sunday night Troy waited until he was sure she'd fallen asleep. It was about 11:30 p.m. when he left. Troy sent one last text to RJ as he was on his way out of the door. “Pray for me.” He wondered if it was right to ask for prayer knowing he was about to do something wrong. Troy knew he needed divine covering. He didn't know if asking for it under such circumstances was proper protocol.

As Troy rode over to the west side, he devised his strategy. He would park a few blocks away from Cheryl's house, but not on the street in front of anyone else's. The last thing he needed was for someone to see a strange vehicle in front of their house and call the police. Instead, he'd leave his car in the church parking lot that was within walking distance of Cheryl's place.

Wearing a baseball cap, T-shirt, and gray sweat pants, Troy headed toward his ex's. He'd thought about wearing a hoodie and then thought twice in the event that there was a neighborhood watch person who
found him suspicious. That individual's suspicions, Troy concluded, would
be well founded because he had no legitimate reason to be in this area.

With his heart pounding and his conscience willing him to turn around
and go back home, Troy ran to the back of Cheryl's house where he was thankful for the tall trees that shielded him from any possible onlookers. He took the glass cutter from his pocket and craftily carved though a
window until he had the ability to unlock it and slip through. Once inside
, the alarm chirped. Troy held his breath. Luckily, it was disarmed and
only signaled the opening of the door. Troy had been so focused on gaining
entry that he hadn't considered the possibility of Cheryl having a security
system. Relieved that authorities had not been summoned, Troy pulled out his flashlight and began his search. He had no idea specifically what to look for, but he was looking for something…anything that would put an end to this mess.

The living room was in disarray. Troy didn't remember it being like
that when he was here. Then, again, he didn't remember much from his
last visit except stopping short of taking her life. Part of him wondered if the living room had purposely been tossed to give the appearance that a struggle had taken place between them and give credence to the disappearance theory. Nothing unusual stood out. Whatever he found would be scraps because CPD had already done a thorough search of the area. Crime scene tape was all over the place. Cheryl had done a great job at staging!

A Sears family portrait of nine-year-old Cheryl holding a baby while standing in the middle of her parents and brothers hung crookedly on
the wall. Next to it was a multi-photograph frame that included various
pictures of Cheryl with people, including one of him and her at a party back in the day, and a wedding photo of Cheryl and her husband. Troy
stared at Cheryl's wedding photo, recalling the details she had given him
about her marriage. “I got married about a year after we split,” she had said to Troy that time they'd met at Starbucks. Cheryl also revealed that he'd cheated on her and died in a car accident. “I loved the idea of being married more than I loved him. He was a rebound. After that I focused on my career and now I sort of regret not having kids. I love my job, but I think I could have been happy just being a wife and mother.”

Cheryl's husband had been a tall, white bald man. He looked vaguely
familiar, but Troy couldn't figure out why. Besides their height, Troy saw
nothing that he and her deceased spouse had in common. She had gone
from him, a dark-skinned man, to a white skinhead-looking dude. Troy
had nothing against interracial relationships. In fact, if they didn't exist
, neither would his wife. Troy simply found that extremity ironic. He'd
been open to dating all nations and creeds in his younger days. Tall, short
, light, dark, it didn't matter…all the women looked the same when the lights went out. At least that was his mentality back then. He never held it against Natalie that she'd slept with a lot of men before him. He hadn't been conservative with his goods either. Yet, God had kept both him and his wife from contracting any diseases. That was grace.

Troy made his way to Cheryl's room. It was still intact, nothing like the mess left in the living room. Yet, Troy could tell that his people had done a thorough job combing through the place. He wasn't sure what he hoped to find that they hadn't until he reminded himself that he and his comrades had come with two different objectives. They had been looking for evidence regarding her abduction; he was looking to uncover her charade.

Troy began ripping through every drawer and box in sight without any regard to putting things back in place. He didn't care if there was evidence that
someone had gone through her things. He just didn't want
the evidence to reveal that he had gone through them. Thanks to his gloves
and shoe covers, no one would be the wiser. He hadn't a clue what he was looking for, but he searched every nook and cranny hoping to find something, anything that could shed light on her whereabouts.